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Mandatory Catholic safeguarding training

IICSA · The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report · Issued 10 November 2020 · Addressed to: Catholic Bishops Conference

Government responseNo response yet

DeliveryNo statement from Catholic Bishops Conference found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation, E

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales should ensure that safeguarding training is mandatory for all staff and volunteers in roles where they work with children or victims and survivors of abuse. It should also be a requirement that regular refresher training is completed. The training should consider the impact of child sexual abuse, including the impact of trauma and the perspective of victims and survivors, and should be developed in conjunction with the Survivor Advisory Panel.

IICSA, The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report · 10 Nov 2020 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reported in October 2022 that the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated in April 2021 that baseline safeguarding training was already mandatory for clergy and parish safeguarding representatives, supplemented by biennial refresher training (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022). It also recorded in October 2022 that the reach of mandatory training was being extended to volunteers under a new standards-based approach, with the Survivors' Reference Panel acting as a key player in this work (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Government response

●No formal government response recorded

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Delivery

No statement on delivery from Catholic Bishops Conference has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse · 20 Oct 2022

On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that it has already mandated that clergy and parish safeguarding representatives undergo baseline safeguarding training, supplemented by biennial refresher training. The reach of mandatory training is extended to volunteers under a new standards-based approach to safeguarding for all who are engaged in any pastoral work in the Church. The voice of victims and survivors of abuse is central to the development of this approach and the Survivors’ Reference Panel will be a key player in this work.

From: Recommendations - Roman Catholic Church investigation report

Site note: These are the Inquiry's own words, from its recommendations page for the Roman Catholic Church investigation report, captured by the Internet Archive on 20 October 2022. They are the Inquiry's account of what the body told it, not the body's own words.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.